Everybody pretty much gets the gist of that now, but there’s no harm in saying it outright. Even Edwards isn’t bothering to deny it anymore.
Byron York has a great column in today’s Washington Examiner on Andrew Young’s new book, The Politician. Young was Edwards’ right-hand man throughout the whole Rielle Hunter debacle. Although considering that Young actually claimed paternity of the child, maybe he was more of a right-ball man. (Sorry, Mom.)
York writes this about the weeks following the 2008 Iowa caucus, when the National Enquirer caught Edwards red-handed visiting his mistress and illegitimate daughter:
At the time, Edwards was a real contender in the Democratic presidential race, so when the Enquirer story was published, the Edwards camp prepared for what some believed would be an onslaught of media scrutiny. But it didn’t come. At the time, Edwards thought he had outsmarted the watchdogs of the press, frustrating their best attempts to uncover the story. But it later turned out that many journalists just didn’t want to report the news and hadn’t tried very hard to uncover the facts.
So they didn’t. It was up to the Enquirer and a handful of blogs to do the work that the “professionals” simply wouldn’t. The Enquirer had hard facts that weren’t being denied by any of the principals in the story, and the media simply refused to confirm or disprove any of those facts. They dropped the ball. They failed. They failed their audience, and they failed themselves.
On a lighter note! Here are some John Edwards jokes I came up with back in July ’08, two days after the Enquirer report, when every single newspaper, TV station, and other “legitimate” media outlet was turning a blind eye to this huge story (“Keep rockin’!”):
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Rielle.
Rielle who?
You must get all your information from TV and newspapers!
Folks, I don’t wanna say John Edwards has an illegitimate baby, but the kid’s got John’s eyes and Rielle Hunter’s meal ticket!
Why did Rielle Hunter cross the road?
To get to the BMW on the other side, which was bought for her by John Edwards!
Why is Rielle Hunter like a fully stocked lake?
They both produce “bass-turds”!
What will John Edwards’ illegitimate child be when she grows up?
Older!
What’s the difference between Rielle Hunter and the wind?
The wind only blows your husband when he’s outside!
How do you get John Edwards to play with his illegitimate baby?
Put it in front of a mirror!
